Where is Winsome?
Paid subscriber content
Where is Winsome?
The lieutenant governor nominee Winsome Sears has been off the radar for quite some time after being absent from Republican events over the weekend. This has people asking where the number two nominee on the Republican statewide ballot is?
A few weeks ago, Sears told Newsmax that she would support the new Texas abortion ban. That is a contradiction to what Glenn Youngkin has been saying at the top of the ticket. The comment from Sears resulted in direct backlash for Youngkin who once told someone secretly recording him that he cannot campaign hard on abortion in Virginia because he would lose Independent voters.
Sources with knowledge of the situation say that Sears went rogue in that interview and most of her staff did not know she was going to express support for the Texas law.
Not long after her Newsmax interview, Sears fired her entire campaign staff in one night — by email from a law firm. Ever since then, her appearances on the trail have been scarce. She was notably absent Friday when the Republican ticket campaigned across Virginia.
Her candidate page on Facebook lists no upcoming events.
Her new campaign spokesperson has not responded to any questions about her absence. Sears did not respond to direct inquiries, either.
People within the Republican Party of Virginia did not provide comment for this story.
Conservative group's poll shows McAuliffe with narrow lead in Virginia - Politico
A new poll conducted by a conservative organization shows Democrat Terry McAuliffe with a narrow lead in the race to be Virginia's next governor — the latest in a series of recent polls showing a close race in which McAuliffe has a slight edge.
According to the poll, which was conducted for the Presidential Coalition by Kellyanne Conway, a former senior adviser to former President Donald Trump, McAuliffe leads Republican businessperson Glenn Youngkin, 46 percent to 42 percent. Ten percent were undecided.
New ad from McAuliffe
Democratic gubernatorial nominee Terry McAuliffe launched a new digital ad Tuesday targeting his opponent’s stance on COVID-19 vaccine mandates. The Republican nominee Glenn Youngkin has strongly encouraged people to receive the vaccine but he has not supported vaccine mandates — this ad from McAuliffe shows various comments from Youngkin when discussing the vaccine and his opposition to mandates.
Youngkin has filmed a PSA video on the vaccine encouraging people to receive it and is airing it as an ad in the Northern Virginia media market. He invited McAuliffe to film a video with him last week urging people to get the shot, but McAuliffe responded by calling on Youngkin to support vaccine requirements. A video was not filmed.
McAuliffe has been hammering Youngkin on this for months and appears to be continuing that trend during the final weeks of the campaign. The new ad shows comments from Youngkin on a radio show in August when he said “I would not require a vaccine in order to continue to work for Virginia.” Footage of McAuliffe then follows up by saying “I think that’s life-threatening, and I think that’s disqualifying as governor.”
A recent poll from Fox News shows that only 29% of people believe the vaccine is not safe or effective. The poll also showed that the majority of Americans support vaccine requirements for teachers, government employees, and businesses with more than 100 employees.
View the new ad from McAuliffe below.
McAuliffe on CNN
OPINION: In Virginia gubernatorial election, Republican Glenn Youngkin may succeed where Jack Ciattarelli is failing in New Jersey - Insider NJ
By Alan Steinberg
By contrast, in Virginia, a blue state with a tinge of purple, the Republican gubernatorial candidate, Glenn Youngkin, by avoiding any participatory action in the Trump “stop-the-steal” movement, is poised to score an upset victory over his Democratic opponent, former Governor Terry McAuliffe. According to the most highly reputable Washington Post-Schar School poll, that race has now narrowed to a virtual dead heat. Nevertheless, it is abundantly clear that Youngkin’s chances of scoring an upset victory are increasing every day. There are two major factors that distinguish his campaign from the feckless and poorly strategized New Jersey Ciattarelli effort.
The first is that unlike Ciattarelli, Youngkin never participated in any Trumpian “stop-the-steal “activity. The second is that Youngkin has made the centerpiece of his campaign a proposal to eliminate the state grocery tax. This is an initiative with political dynamite which could be the silver bullet to score an election day victory for the GOP underdog. This is in direct contrast to Ciattarelli, whose major anti-state tax message is limited to a corporate tax reduction proposal, with zero populistic appeal.
Did you miss the newsletter from this morning?